Andersonville Summer Sidewalk Sale: Shop Like the Gilmore Girls

Sarah Terez Rosenblum (@SarahTerez) is an MFA-holding writer, teacher and Spinning instructor. She's also the Theater Listings Editor for Centerstage Chicago. Look for her posts twice a week.

A former friend once met me for coffee in Andersonville. Glancing up from his dirty Chai, spiked from a flask stashed in his Chrome bag, he snarled, “It’s like Norman Rockwell threw up out there.”

This friend “lived” in Bucktown. I ensnare the word in quotations because his apartment, though hardwood-floored and sunlit, seemed inhabited by meth-addicted ferrets, impossible to do more there than subsist.

While not hip enough for everyone, Andersonville meets every need on my checklist:

1. More trees than (visible) rats
2. More big dogs than small (rats on a string, as far as I’m concerned.)
3. Starbucks. The Coffee Studio is fine if sterile, Kopi is great if moist, and Taste of Heaven, although inconsistent, will forever possess my loyalty because of this, but my neighborhood must have a Starbucks. Got a problem? I’ll kick you in your third place.
3. A gym that can’t stand in for a singles bar (unless you're a gay man, which despite a penchant for brunch and public drama, I’m not.)
5. (Bonus) That small town sense that I might run into Lorelei and Rory around the next bend.

In the neighborhood’s latest Stars Hollow-esque venture, this weekend Andersonville unveils its annual Summer Sidewalk Sale. On the downside, you can expect to be run into the street by even more SUV-style strollers than usual, but you’ll also enjoy plein air access to a cornucopia of specialty gifts, clothes, books, antiques and more.

Participating stores include Alamo Shoes, Brown Elephant, His Stuff, Presence, The Runner’s Edge and the Swedish American Museum. So, shop, grab a burger at Luke’s … I mean Charlie’s, and remember, Andersonville may not be as artfully disheveled as Bucktown, but our real estate is just as overpriced!